Gibson doesn't expect to miss much timeBulls forward believes he came back from injury too quickly but says situation isn't like Rose's

April 05, 2013|By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune reporter

NEW YORK — Late Tuesday in Washington, in frustrated fashion, Taj Gibson said "that's what happens when you rush back to try to help your team win" after he reinjured his left knee.

Some people tried to apply significance to Derrick Rose's situation off that comment. Gibson doesn't.

"He has handled it the right way from Day 1," Gibson said emphatically before Thursday's morning shootaround. "He listened to himself."

Gibson is out indefinitely but confirmed Wednesday's report that his MRI merely showed an aggravation of scar tissue from his knee sprain on Feb. 24. Gibson missed just more than three weeks then.

"I listened to myself too," Gibson said of his decision then to return after missing 10 games. "I knew when the training staff told me what I could do and how it feels. It's your opinion. You're in charge of your (stuff), so when I went out there I felt like I was good. But anything could happen."

Rose continues to practice fully, but there are few indications he will play this season.

"He's close but he's not going to come back until he's ready," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Right now, we're not doing a lot of scrimmaging because of where we are (in the schedule) so it's hard to gauge. When we did scrimmage, he looked very good. The most important thing is making sure he's comfortable.

"It's on him. Only he knows. So we have to trust him. As I've said many times, I trust him implicitly. He'll know when he's ready. And when he is, he'll go."

Stretch run: Gibson, Joakim Noah, Marco Belinelli and Richard Hamilton all have said the goal is to log some regular-season action to get in game conditioning and rhythm before the playoffs start.

"For this to happen to me right now just shows that I came back a little too quickly, I think," Gibson said of his re-aggravation." I just have to have my mind ready and my body prepared for the outcome of it because I know we're making a playoff push and everybody is needed right now. … I don't really plan on being out for a long time."

Layups: Thibodeau finally signed his four-year, $17.5 million extension Monday. He said he figured the deal was done when he shook Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf's hand last October. Then lawyers quibbled over language, and Thibodeau let it sit for reasons only he knows. … Thibodeau on fired Rutgers coach Mike Rice's abusive behavior toward players: "There's no defending that. It's unfortunate, surprising."